The West Virginia Power lost two of their best young starters in May and it sounds like one should be back soon, while the other is on a much slower path back. Plus we have updates on three other players who are out for the season.
Starting with Braeden Ogle, who left his start on April 27th early, then couldn’t make his next start due to shoulder inflammation. Ogle said he felt better a few days later, but the Pirates wanted to take it slow with it being a shoulder injury. The inflammation returned and he hasn’t progressed past a normal throwing routine at Pirate City, where he has been for at least three weeks now. Ogle won’t be able to go further until the inflammation is gone, so at this point, we won’t see much (any?) of him this season with only half of a season left.
There is better news with Travis MacGregor, who was knocked out of his May 14th start early. He felt a spasm in his deltoid muscle on his throwing arm, followed by pain in the days afterwards. He was hoping to miss just 1-2 starts, but that was five weeks ago. He took time off from throwing, but has now been doing bullpens/side throwing and will start Friday’s GCL game. That will be followed by a second GCL start next week, then if all goes well, he could return to West Virginia.
The Pirates placed three players on the 60-day disabled list in the minors, ending their seasons. The 60-day DL opens up spots on the 35-man rosters to add other players and anyone with an official contract has to be placed on a minor league roster once all of the leagues start to play.
Emison Soto, the younger brother of Elias Diaz, had his season ended by an awkward swing, which injured his knee. He will require surgery, which will happen soon.
Mason Ward needed Tommy John surgery. The good news here is that he had it back in March, feeling pain after a few Spring Training games. That will allow him to pitch next year, as opposed to a TJ surgery this time of year, which would effectively put him out for next year as well. Ward was a 34th round pick last year, who put up decent stats last year in Bristol and was throwing well this spring before the injury.
The last player is Luis Gonzalez, who is missing his second consecutive season with an arm injury. The 19-year-old right-hander has yet to make his pro debut.
